In the early nineties a fashion editorial by Stephanie Pfriender Stylander appeared in British GQ. One of the images from that shoot sits in a frame on my wall. Heavily inspired by the film “La Dolce Vita” it depicts a formally dressed couple sat, or rather slouched at a table outside a restaurant somewhere in Italy, eating ice cream with attitude (if that is possible!) As a young adult this image had a huge impact on me – it was my inspiration for wanting to travel, I aspired to live my life as portrayed in the picture and I did so for the six years that I lived abroad.
On returning home to look for a new challenge in fashion photography this image again has had a huge influence on my work. A single image inspired me to change my life by portraying a lifestyle I aspired to. A single image that had so many unanswered questions held within it, where had this couple been, where were they going, how long had they been together? My being on the receiving end of such a powerful image has made me realise how important images are in our life. Now I find that rather than emulating the photograph I want to emulate the photographer by producing images that hopefully inspire, impress and simply evoke emotion in the viewer.
My interest in photography started as a way of still being creative whilst traveling. The other creative outlets that I had enjoyed before going abroad, drawing, painting, fashion, writing dance music and dj’ing all suffered due to the limited amount of space in a suitcase.
Yet the camera was small enough to carry with me permanently, so as I traveled to different continents and cultures I learnt to record it all with the camera. However, and I admit this sounds terrible, it became quite boring, it wasn’t really a challenge to capture the image.
The weather was virtually always perfect, the landscapes and scenery was always picturesque, my eye was becoming more and more attuned to details and capturing the moment, all that remained was the patience for the crowds to part and the image to appear. It was around this time that another photographer saw my travel images and simply said “Your images are great but I would hire you as a location scout. All the images are incredible but seem to be missing the beautiful women in the amazing dress.” The penny dropped, a change in direction for my photography, the early fashion inspiration and the Italian ice cream; I needed a new challenge.
So I quit my career and returned home to pursue a life in fashion photography. Quite daunting when I hadn’t studied either photography or fashion and with the exception of Wayne Hemmingway, Blackburn isn’t exactly known for setting the world’s catwalks alight but the beauty of the internet means that there is a vast wealth of knowledge and networking at our disposal and I was able to make incredible contacts very early which proved invaluable.
A six week trip to Uruguay to shoot a swimsuit editorial in Jan/Feb 05 means that everything is slowly turning full circle, travelling with my cameras but this time in the name of fashion...
